Pianist Robin Spielberg returns to Appleton for romantic concert

If you ask Robin Spielberg to describe her music — and many people do — the famed pianist with the infectious laugh likely will take you back to an Indian reservation in New Jersey.

By Dave SchlenkerEntertainment editor

If you ask Robin Spielberg to describe her music — and many people do — the famed pianist with the infectious laugh likely will take you back to an Indian reservation in New Jersey.Her compositions and piano style do not fall into convenient, record-store categories. Her works are more a series of adjectives: lyrical, melodic, gentle and romantic (a fitting description for her Valentine’s weekend concert at Ocala’s Appleton Museum of Art). But there is a very important noun she uses to describe her music: scrapbook. Some people keep scrapbooks to chronicle their memories. She writes songs.The best anecdote is, like much of her music, a bittersweet lump in your throat.The inspiration for her popular composition “Walk With Me” was a stroll on that Indian reservation 16 years ago.“In my adulthood, I had this beautiful walk with my mother. It was unusual that we were doing that; it wasn’t something we normally did,” Spielberg said from her home in Pennsylvania. “We just had so much to talk about, we decided to go for a walk. We went to this beautiful Indian reservation in northern New Jersey. Yet we started walking, and we didn’t say a word. Not a word. It was a beautiful, beautiful day, and we held hands like we did when I was a little girl. “It was just this beautiful, spiritual walk with my mother. I didn’t want to forget it. So I composed this song for cello and piano called ‘Walk With Me.’ That reminds me of my mother and all the feelings it encompassed. I’ll never lose that ... that’s my scrapbook.”This is how she is wired, she said. Instrumental music documents the sweet, sad and simple moments of her life — “a summer day, leaves falling in autumn, my kitten seeing snow for the very first time.”Yet while she is known mostly for her expressive piano music, Spielberg also is a woman of words. She is a talker, a very funny performer whose stage banter is as much a part of her concerts as the gently tickled ivories. The last time she performed at the Appleton — in 2010 — she overrode the pre-show announcement about turning off cellphones. Turn them on, she told the audience. Post pictures, text friends and Tweet: “Let everybody know what they’re missing since they didn’t buy a ticket.“She is a woman of stories, and she started keeping a journal to chronicle the odd life of a touring musician, wife and mother. Those stories have been compiled into a book she plans to release in September called “Naked on the Bench: My Adventures in Pianoland.”“Things would happen on the road, and I would think, ‘Gosh, no one’s going to believe this.’ Every now and then when I couldn’t sleep, I’d go back, see where I was and read it. I’d end up laughing out loud,” she said. “I tell stories during my concerts because I like to share the inspiration behind the songs I compose. Several people have asked me, ‘Can you record these stories?’ Over time, I thought I probably have something here that has a beginning, middle and end.”“Pianoland” refers to Spielberg’s life on the road; traveling so much, she sometimes forgets what city she is in. “I just say I’m in Pianoland.” Meanwhile, “Naked on the Bench” is a nod to the vulnerability she feels as a solo pianist playing and talking about her life. But it also hints at one of the book’s more interesting stories: Her gig performing at a nudist resort. Before the show, she spent much time debating the obvious: Should she take off her clothes, too? “I’m not going to give it away,” she said, “but there is a conclusion about being naked on the bench.”Spielberg, fully clothed, will greet fans after Sunday’s Appleton show, as well as sell and sign CDs. She has performed in Ocala several times, the last time to a full house at the Appleton.“She’s got quite a following in Ocala,” said Steve Specht, the museum’s marketing director. “She’s fabulous,” agreed Ocala’s Mary Morris. “I’ve seen her concerts several times. A very enjoyable evening.”